This invention relates to water-dispersed, heat-curable polymers in aqueous coatings and more particularly to cross-linking amine groups on the polymers with heat-reactive bis-maleimide.
The aqueous coatings containing a polymer having pendant amine groups and the bis-maleimide can be electrodeposited onto a cathode substrate and, thus, can be employed as a cathodic electrocoating composition as described in co-pending application Ser. No. 574,024. The aqueous coatings also can be applied to a substrate by conventional techniques such as dipping, rolling, spraying, and like techniques. The applied film of the aqueous coating composition is heat-curable wherein the bis-maleimide cross-links the polymer, and such curing is independent of the particular method of application of the coating composition.